Bitter Grape Is Real Poem by RIC BASTASA

If you convert a sigh into a symbol
think of a comma

then you change your mind
it is a hyphenated silence which waits for something that is always coming

from a distance you see something like grapes
they are your thoughts

ripe, and misty, and you think that they must be sweet because they look
like memories

you couldn't help it, you sigh again, like taking a deep breath and filling your
lungs with power and then you exhale like the way you surrender
to that urge for smoking at night

you touch it, it is cold, it is not soft like a fruit
it is solid, something stoic,
you grab it and put it inside your mouth where you tongue
begins to play with
its obtuseness

it is not even sour, something that is possible with a grape,

it is bitter
and you cannot believe it
it is simply unbelievable
you have already buried all bitterness
how come that it is here again?

you swallow it because of shame that you are swindled by
an imagery that you have never tasted

it is bitter. it is actually bitter. and then you remember
what happened to you when you were fooled.

that bitter grape is real.